Lina had finally chased down
Zelgadis and tackled the still-laughing chimera with a combination leap and
levitation spell. Rolling from the impact, they had become hopelessly tangled
in his cape, and the resultant landing had left them breathlessly close. In a
sheer moment of abandon, she’d kissed him, which almost had led to her
completely forgetting about Amelia, Gourry, and the fact that she’d not had
lunch and it was getting close to dinner time.
It was her stomach that interrupted
yet another kiss, and he’d started to laugh softly. Embarrassed, Lina had
untangled herself from his cape and stood, trying to pick all the leaves out of
her hair.
It hadn’t worked.
When they got back to the hotel,
Amelia immediately reached out and plucked a leaf from Lina’s hair without
comment.
Lina blushed violently. “It’s not
like that! I… I kind of…” she started fidgeting her hands, “I ran into him… and
we got tangled up in his cloak and fell and…” she blushed even harder.
Zelgadis stepped up, resting his
hand on Amelia’s shoulder. The princess turned to look at him, and she could
see without a doubt that nothing untoward had occurred. Shame on me! Miss Lina would have fried him if he’d tried anything…
not that he would. Mister Zelgadis is a perfect gentleman, and I shouldn’t
think badly of either one of them! “Did either of you get hurt…?” She
asked.
He gave her shoulder a brief squeeze
before shaking his head and allowing his hand to slip off of her shoulder and
onto the door of the hotel’s dining area, pushing it open. “No… though her
fireballs are nothing to sneeze at.”
Amelia turned to Lina in all
seriousness. “Miss Lina, you really shouldn’t throw fireballs at Mister
Zelgadis.”
Lina held up her hand to Amelia.
“Amelia, can we have this argument after dinner?” She walked through the door
that Zelgadis was holding open, following Gourry. “You’d better not eat it all,
Gourry!”
Amelia went to follow, resting a
hand on the door to hold it open, but paused as she looked to Zelgadis. “And
you really ought not to tease her like that, Mister Zelgadis. Miss Lina could
really hurt you.”
He gave a little half-smile, then
looked to her. “Amelia… I wanted to thank you.”
She blinked, frozen to the spot.
“Thank me for what, Mister Zelgadis?”
His voice was low enough for only
Amelia to hear. “I know what you said to Lina… and what you did was the best
thing a friend could ever do. I’m glad you’re my friend.”
She looked down, blushing deeply.
“Mister Zelgadis… it would have been wrong for me to try and get in the way…
the Royal Family of Saillune hardly has a private existence… and I just
couldn’t force you into that.”
“You’re a rare and gentle soul,
Amelia. Never forget that. It’s a quality that shines out from you. Don’t lose
that as you move on.”
She looked up as he stepped through
the doorway. No… he’s definitely not for
me. I see that so completely now… but who is? She shook her head and walked
into the room after him.
Dinner had been uneventful, and
afterwards, Lina had wandered off to go sit in the hot spring. She lay back
against the stone seat and sighed softly. What
am I going to do about Zelgadis…? She shivered at the memory of that kiss,
even though the water was quite warm. It
could get really awkward… and I don’t want to hurt him… but… she sighed, closing
her eyes and tilting her head back. Relationships were so difficult, she
reflected. She wasn’t that type of girl, but there was something electric that
passed back and forth between she and him… She sat up and pulled the black
ribbon out of her hair, setting it to the side of the water.
While Lina was busy washing her
hair, Zelgadis was laying on his bed, considering very carefully the direction
that things were taking. He was still stunned at the force of the passions and
emotions that rippled through him, he’d been ill-prepared to have been alone
with Lina caught up against him by his cloak. That crisp scent of green wood
kissed by flames had intoxicated him again, and it was only her hunger that
saved themselves both from making a mistake. But how did she feel about it? She
needed to know that he wasn’t like that at all…
“Hey Zelgadis… not that it’s any of
my business or anything, but I think that you and Lina make a really great
couple,” Gourry said from where he was resting.
Zelgadis felt a blush tinge his
cheeks. “And just think, there was a time when I thought you were the one she
was in love with. She cried so hard when Phibrizo took you away.”
“She’s like a little sister to me,
Zel. I have to take care of her until someone else comes along to do it,”
Gourry replied, his eyes closed. “My heart belongs to Sylphiel.”
“I doubt she’d want to marry me,
Gourry. I’d never get her in the dress.”
Gourry startled Zelgadis by starting
to laugh. “Yeah, you weren’t with us that time, I remember! Man, you should
have seen her! She was absolutely gorgeous.”
Zelgadis sat up, looking over to
Gourry. “What are you talking about?”
Gourry lay there, recounting
the story of how Lina had to pretend to marry Prince Hallas and couldn’t bring
herself to kiss him at the end. He told the whole thing, from beginning to end,
and by the time he was done, both of them were laughing.
“So you’re telling me that if I give
her enough money, she’ll wear the dress, but she won’t kiss me?” Zelgadis
chuckled.
“Nah… she’s already kissed you,”
Gourry replied easily.
Zelgadis blushed. There was that
little fact now, wasn’t there? “Well… yes,” he said awkwardly.
Gourry yawned and rolled over. “So
where’s the concern? Don’t second-guess yourself too much, Zelgadis. You do
that and you defeat yourself before you can ever start.”
Zelgadis blinked at Gourry for a
moment, then smiled to himself. Gourry was right, he decided. Laying back down
on the bed, he fell asleep considering.
Lina collapsed into her bed, still
uncertain how she was going to handle her fierce attraction to Zelgadis. She
didn’t even understand where it had come from. It wasn’t just that she hadn’t
allowed herself to feel that way… she hadn’t felt that way about him until
Rezo’s spell had caught her. No, that wasn’t right. She knew him so much better
now… had fallen in love with him the moment that she knew beyond the shadow of
a doubt that he was so much more than he thought he was.
“Miss Lina…?” Amelia whispered in
the darkness.
“Yeah?” Lina replied, jolted out of
her thoughts.
“I’m glad that you and Mister
Zelgadis are working out…”
Lina blinked in the darkness. It
suddenly dawned on her, how truly young Amelia was, lost in the face of the
world. The princess hadn’t had an easy childhood… her mother killed by
assassins, her older sister running away… Lina had even heard that it was
Amelia herself who had found her mother first. And now, here she is, out in a world that doesn’t care, travelling with
friends… and yet, somehow, Amelia is still terribly alone… Lina shook her
head in the quiet. “Amelia, don’t you dare. You’re a dear friend to all of us.
Don’t you dare go around being alone all the time. You may fool Gourry, and you
may manage to fool Zelgadis some of the time, but you won’t fool me. You’re
only as alone as you let yourself be, and you have three friends right close to
you.”
There was silence from the other bed
for a moment, then a quiet little voice. “I know, Miss Lina… It’s just hard…”
“I never said it wasn’t, Amelia.
Growing up is a long, hard road. And you’ve come a long way from the first time
we traveled. You’re coming into your own, and you’re going to be the best Queen
that Sailune ever had. And somewhere out there is an incredibly lucky young man
who is waiting for you.”
There was the sound of Amelia
turning over in the bed. “Do you really think so, Miss Lina?”
“No, Amelia. I know it. Now let’s
get some sleep. We can talk about it in the morning,” Lina replied. It’s true… I do know it. I don’t know how,
or why… but I have this feeling…
Lina fell asleep before she could
consider it further.